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Women need their own target heart rate for exercise because standard calculations are based on men-only research, according to Ohio State University Medical Center cardiologist Martha Gulat. She studied more than 5,400 healthy Chicago-area women and came up with a new maximum heart rate that takes 88% of a woman's age and subtracts it from 206.

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Sister to Sister's Screen Us Where We Are campaign is calling on health care providers, insurers and policymakers to find ways to overcome obstacles to heart disease screening and counseling for women. Twenty percent of women depend on an obstetrician or gynecologist for primary care, yet only a third recall having discussions with an ob/gyn regarding heart disease -- the No. 1 killer of American women, psychotherapist Irene Pollin and cardiologist JoAnne Micale Foody write. "Basic, preventive cardiovascular screenings can and will reduce the social and economic burden of heart disease in this country, and making that screening a routine part of a woman's visit to any primary care provider can and must be part of the solution," they write.

A new report from the Society for Women's Health Research and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease says too little progress has been made in understanding gender differences in heart risk. Women are at greater risk of death than men in the year after a heart attack, and standard tests can miss signs of cardiac disease in women. "A woman's heart is her major health threat, and everyone who takes care of a woman has to realize that," says cardiologist Dr. Nanette Wenger of Emory University, a co-author of the report.

Chicago-area retail landlords are facing an uphill battle as they try to fill empty space. In Q1, the area's retail vacancy rate reached 12.1% -- a record high since at least the mid-1990s and the 11th consecutive quarter the rate increased, according to CBRE.

Chicago-area ICU nurse Jodi Gunther is planning her sixth trip to the mountain region of Peru as part of CardioStart, a nonprofit group that creates open-heart surgery programs in developing countries. She describes the work as the "toughest job you'll ever love."